The present seal structure yields a very important benefit that has eluded other persons skilled in the art. It can be retrofitted to existing, worn machinery to enhance the protection of costly lubricated machine components. This seal can replace existing seals, and the performance of this seal exceeds that of all other standard-sized, commercially available, conventional, lip and sleeve type seals. The only commercially available type of seal with performance comparable to this embodiment is the dual cone face seal. It is known by those in the art that dual cone face seals have the disadvantage of overall size that significantly restricts their use. The seal disclosed here overcomes that disadvantage.
Conventional unitized lip and sleeve seals are much thinner than dual cone face seals. Since this seal can be installed as a direct replacement for ordinary seals, it can be specified and used without making any modifications to the design of an existing machine. The shaft, the bore, and the housing in which the seal operates are identical whether the present seal or conventional seals are used. Wherever dual cone face seals are desired, the machine must have been originally designed specifically for their use. Dual cone face seals cannot fit into all of the machine locations because of design constraints.
It is an object of the invention to teach the structure and method of using a retrofittable severe duty seal for a shaft.
It is a further object of this disclosure to show a method useful for sealing bearings in shaft-mounted dynamic rollers used in track-driven vehicles.
Another object is to provide a seal that may be useful in any application where a shaft and shaft bearing or bushing surfaces may be exposed to mud, dust, abrasives, cement, submersion, abrasive liquids or other substances that could damage relative dynamic mechanical components.
Another object hereof is to disclose a seal that lasts longer than previously known conventional seals adapted for severe duty applications.
Another object of the present disclosure is to make essentially all of the important benefits of a dual cone face seal available in a physically smaller assembly.
It is an object to make essentially all of the important benefits of a dual cone face seal available in an assembly having the same physical dimensions as a conventional single lip or double lip seal.
Another object hereof is to provide a method for sealing a shaft and bearing assembly using a seal as an excluder seal, as a grease seal, as an oil seal, and as a seal for other liquids at low and moderate pressures.
Another object of this disclosure is to provide a method for using a seal having a shaft-contacting sleeve that enables the seal to be installed on and to operate reliably with shafts having imperfections such as those ordinarily caused by wear and use.
Another object is to provide a method of sealing a shaft and bearing assembly, using an unitary seal structure that both improves reliability, and makes seal installation easier compared to installation of seals that are composed of two or more separable parts.
These and further objects of the apparatus taught in accordance with this specification, the claims, and the figures are set forth below.